Forget the mojo, these English batsmen need to rediscover their tempo

Lawrence Booth gives his verdict for MailOnline from Galle on day two of the first Test match between Sri Lanka and England...

We’re all experts now that England are Not Very Good At Test Cricket again. Is it technique? Is it temperament? The heat, perhaps? Or the prevailing wind on the Sri Lankan coast?

Commentating on Test Match Special, Michael Vaughan seemed to come closest. ‘They haven’t found the right tempo,’ he said. It was the kind of comment only an ex-pro could have made – instinctive and knowing.

But he was right: ever since they arrived in the UAE in January, England’s Test batsmen have been searching for their blessed tempo.

Tempo was what Mahela Jayawardene batted with (as well as class, elegance, daring and a bit of luck). Tempo is the magic ingredient that, when located, makes a batsman look unrushed and at home. All the best batsmen have it. And right now, England manifestly do not.

Nightmare start: Alastair Cook goes for a duck to the bowling of Suranga Lakmal in Galle

Their lack of tempo today was evident not merely in the ways in which they contrived to get out – a chamber of horrors to conjure up so many winters past. It was there, too, amid the stuff in between.

Take Jayawardene, who faced 315 balls and calmly collected 51 singles. That equates to roughly one single per over, which is the very definition of ticking-over when you throw in the occasional two, three or four.

England, by contrast, managed 28 singles between them in 46.4 overs. A large proportion of their runs came in fours (124 out of 193), while only Andrew Strauss and Jimmy Anderson managed a two.

In other words, England were mainly reduced to either hitting or blocking, the exception being Ian Bell, who kept feathering the seamers to third man. (Turns out he was never out of form at all: he just needed to get away from Saeed Ajmal.)

Another one down: Rangana Herath successfully appeals for lbw against Matt Prior

And that is what is meant by tempo – the ability to assess a situation, a pitch, a bowling attack, and bat accordingly. Not, as England were doing, by numbers.

The cherished positives were few and far between as they slumped to their fifth sub-200 total in seven Test innings this winner.

Strauss came close to a tempo of sorts, hitting five singles, two twos, three threes and two fours, but he keeps having brainstorms in the 20s and 30s, which is not a good look for an experienced Test opener. Bell looked sublime before getting bogged down with the lower order (not a mistake Jayawardene made). The last four clumped merrily.

But ever since England over-attacked on the first morning of the Pakistan series – they then over-defended when chasing 145 in Abu Dhabi – they have been caught in a batting no-man’s land that has merely earned the derision of those already furious at their elevation to No 1.

Struggles: England captain Andrew Strauss again failed to dominate with the bat

In that respect, the 4-0 one-day win against Pakistan was the reddest of herrings. One-day cricket presents fewer problems to the batsman struggling against spin: there are fewer men round the bat, and – on a good day – a Saeed Ajmal can be seen off.

In Tests, they keep on coming, and England are yet to work out a method of tackling even an honest slow left-armer such as Rangana Herath. Of the six batsmen he dismissed today, only Bell could truly be said to have been got out. The rest gave it away.

Lessons can take time to absorb. But England’s rate of progress against spinners in Asia appears glacial. In a country as warm as this, there can be only one outcome.